In a rather surprising move UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon flew all the way from New York to Kabul to congratulate the re-election of President Karzai. It was believed to be ‘an expression of solidarity and of commitment on UN’s part with Afghanistan’ but the subsequent arrivals of unprecedented decisions from the UN has put the fate of this unstable country at gamble. UN has come up with a plan to relocate more than half of its staffers to safer locations within and outside Afghanistan.

The decision to relocate 600 non-essential staffers is seen as a show of weak determination on UN’s part to remain committed to its mission in Afghanistan. It comes in a time when Afghanistan is facing its worst security issues coupled with massive corruption.
Citing security challenges Adrian Edwards, UN Spokesman, announced the relocation of about 600 foreign staffers of UN in different locations inside and outside Afghanistan. He said they have arrived at the decision after reviewing the worsening security situation in Afghanistan. He also clarified that with the improvement in security these personnel will be called back to Afghanistan.

“We are not talking about pulling out,” the head of the mission, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, told reporters. “We are not talking about evacuation.” He said a number of options were being considered for those who have to leave the country, including Dubai — a typical destination for international workers in Afghanistan on rest breaks. UN’s decision to abandon Afghanistan in the hands of brutal Taliban and corrupt Karzai administration needs to be reviewed.

In fact, UN should seriously consider increasing its staffers in controlling the corruption that has brought a bad name to Afghanistan. Decreasing the number of UN staffers will be seen as a sign of victory for the anti-democracy and anti-liberal Afghanistan. The fundamentalist Taliban, whose recent attacks on a guest house accommodating UN staffers, has compelled the UNO mission heads to come to such a decision. The only benefactors remain to be the attackers.

In fact, they have been rewarded for their action. UN should have called strongly on coalition forces that are slowly and gradually turning to occupation forces in Afghanistan to make an example of the attackers and their backers instead the organization has knelt down and is looking for the exit door.

This will help none of the stake holders who’ve made a pledge to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan. The strategy has not worked yet, either these stakeholders including the UN should abandon Afghanistan to the Afghans and let them decide whether to earn a good name in the comity of nations or go back to the stone age with the fundamentalists or they should seriously review their strategy and come up with a working plan that could bring peace and stability to this unfortunate nation.